Creating Significant Learning Environments
The Inside Higher Education article No Laughing Matter discusses the Randall Monroe cartoon University Website which points to the unfortunate reality that much of what is on the first page of a University website isn’t what most people are looking for.
I think I will let this picture/cartoon do the talking…
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Don McMillan’s classic critique on PowerPoint. This should be required viewing for anyone using or planning to use PowerPoint, KeyNote or any other form of presentation tool.
McMillian has an updated but considerably longer video titled Life After Death by PowerPoint 2010
Steve Jobs sounds off on Android, BlackBerry, and 7-inch tablets | Tech Sanity Check | TechRepublic.com via kwout
Jobs does make some very valid points in his comments on the Blackberry, Android and 7 inch tablets.
In addition to pointing out that Apple has surpassed RIM in selling smart phones Jobs also points out that RIM has not gone beyond sustaining innovation and to have any hope of catching Apple they must:
…move beyond their area of strength and comfort
RIM is the next text book example of the effects of disruptive innovation–I have been saying this for the past two years.
Perhaps the best part of the whole article was Jobs’ assessment of Android’s problems being an issue of fragmentation. He points out that the “Open” platform of Android is actually it biggest problem and as a result many Android apps only run on selected Android versions and on specific devices. In contrast Apple offers an integrated platform in which everything just works and the user doesn’t have to become a system integrator. While there is a fair amount of truth in the fragmentation argument and we have over a decade of evidence from the Linux world to attest to the hindrance of fragmentation we haven’t see a company as focused as Google involved in the development of and OS so there may be hope that Android will beat the odds and unite all parties.
Putting his biases aside Jobs makes some very relevant points and as the current leader of disruptive innovation he has earned the right to make the claims that he does and we should at least consider his arguments.
Digital Academy via kwout
This past weekend 22 faculty and spouses attended the first Digital Academy in Gruene TX. The event sponsored by the Adams Center and the Learning and Digital Media center was an opportunity for faculty to explore the tools that we use to live, work, and learn in a digital world. The practical focus of weekend’s activities was communication through digital photography.
Thanks to Kyle Dickson for coordinating the even and to Nil Santana and Kyle Trafton who took the attendees through their paces.
This really should not be a surprise nor should parents overt fear of digital devices. What is really unfortunate is that many parents have difficulty separating texting, game playing and other forms of digital media with reading online or using an e-reader. It is also unfortunate that because of a lack of discipline or perhaps parenting skills many parents are willing to overlook the benefits of ebooks and kids desire to read digitally with the notion that all technology is a distraction
